Media Diary

Max Clifford to the rescue. The PR supremo has hired Mark Thomas, who resigned as editor of the People late last year, setting him up with a desk and a few clients while Thomas, who edited the Sunday tabloid with great aplomb, decides where next to employ his skills. Clifford struck a similar deal with former News of the World editor Phil Hall when he left Rupert Murdoch's employ, until Hall returned to journalism before finally setting up his own firm. It will be interesting to see which path Thomas chooses.

Samantha's better half

A pile of documents from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport lands on our desk, detailing the dealings of David Cameron, pictured, with the department when he was a humble PR man at Carlton TV. Among the briefing notes and policy documents is one prepared by an anonymous civil servant to a minister at the department, dated October 1996, at the fag end of the last Tory government. 'You and I are due to meet David Cameron, director of corporate affairs for Carlton Communications, for lunch on Friday 4 October at 1pm,' it reads. 'Mr Cameron is the fiancee [sic] of Lord Astor's daughter and is the prospective parliamentary candidate for Stafford.' It's not what you know....

Shock at TV-free Sorrell

Here's a fact that should strike fear into the hearts of TV executives the world over. WPP's Sir Martin Sorrell has just bought a new apartment in Gramercy Park, an up-and-coming part of Manhattan, and is living without a TV set. The world's most powerful ad man is said to have discovered that you can do without one, downloading Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives over the internet instead. Sources close to Sir Martin joke he has a TV in his bathroom in his main residence on this side of the water, and he will doubtless buy a top-of-the-range plasma screen for his New York pad in due course. But broadcasters who worry about a TV-free world may find the future has already arrived.

Miserable scribblers

Is journalism the world's most depressing profession? We only ask because last week's claim, by researchers at Hull University, that antidepressants don't work prompted a flood of confessional articles from Fleet Street's Prozac-popping hacks, including the Times's Camilla Cavendish and Bryony Gordon, in the Daily Telegraph. The London Evening Standard ran three pieces, from Connie Allfrey, Charlotte Ross and Johann Hari.

Easy on the blusher

Tony Blair may no longer bestride the public stage as he once did, but the former PM, who spent thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money on hair and make-up, has retained the services of a make-up artist. Caroline Frazer, who has worked with Charlotte Church and Jodie Kidd, among others, lists Blair as a client on her website (carolinefrazer.com). She is also a 'spokesperson' for skincare brand Simple. Perhaps Blair, who has a large mortgage, could take on that role once he's brought peace to the Middle East.